(Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii )
It has
taken some time, but finally the almond trees have come into blossom, at bit
later than other years. The result is that the Lesvorian landscape is coloured
with tufts of pink-white clouds and I’m amazed to see how many almond trees
grow on the island. It’s the best time to count them because these fruit trees
are always the first ones to deck their branches with these fragile blossoms.
And now the first prune trees are slowly starting to open their flowers with
the peach and apricot trees soon to follow.
So what can
be done with all those almonds. In the local women’s cooperatives, they make
marzipan from them, just like they do with walnuts. I must admit that I take
the almonds from the trees near the house; but because nut cracking is so time
consuming, I still have bags full of almonds that may never get eaten.
The first
flowers of the year however are not from a tree but spurt from the earth long
before a new year starts. The first anemones (wind-flowers) begin to show their
colourful petals in December. But these flowers are at their best when the
almond trees are showing off - a scene that gives you a warm spring feeling.
After these
first blossomings, other flowers follow in a quick succession - like blue grape
hyacinth, irises, red anemones, dandelions and marigolds and soon you will
loose count of what will be next.
However,
along with the almond blossoms and the anemones there is another flower that
starts pretty early in the year: the wild orchid. These flowers are a bit more
modest and if you don’t really look for them it is easy to overlook them. The
wild orchid secretly adds it colours to the landscape and is so small that most
people will have never seen her that early in the year. On January 31st
orchid specialist and photographer Jan van Lent discovered a few Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii on the island and possibly some Ophrys
(fusca ssp.) lindia. Astonished
to find them so early he immediately set off for more orchid hunting, resulting
in proof that orchids can also be placed amongst the earliest flowers to bloom
in spring, along with the anemones and almond blossoms. On February 13th
he even found a flowering Himantoglossum
robertianum (the Big Roberts orchid), which is considered to be the biggest orchid in
Greece.
These names
may not conjure up familiar images for people who are not conversant with wild
orchids. But when entering this orchid world, a new universe will open because
there are many kinds of orchids,
divided in families, species and subspecies. A layman might not see the
differences in subspecies but the orchid specialist who studies these flowers
does and exchanges his findings with other connoisseurs.
Orchids do
have something very special that other flowers do not: they still continue to
develop new species. It is a flower world in motion that keep the orchid
hunters also on the move. Because not only new flowers get a name; there are
orchid specialists who even rename some of the species. So when you have just
determined which orchid you have found and if you have not read the latest
publications you may be driven mad because professor X may be calling the
orchid ‘such’ and mister Y will call it ‘so’. Who is the Pope of the orchids?
It
sometimes drives Jan van Lent crazy and he wonders why some people have to
rename a flower. I mean, you ask for roses and you then get tulips because
someone has decided to replace the name of roses by tulips. The orchid world is
a strange one with lots of naming and squabbling.
And orchids
do get eaten. Their bulbs are unearthed in order to make flour, which is used
to make a kind of power-drink named salep.
This milky drink used to be consumed in great quantity in times when coffee was
still too expensive for many people. Whilst the drink is now forbidden in
Europe, in Athens, for example, you may still find street vendors trying to
sell this drink. Although it’s not certain that they sell the real orchid-salep
or whether they make this with milk and cornstarch, see Jumping
Ropes with Fox Testicles Ice Cream.
Wild
orchids are protected flowers: do not touch them, just look at them. When you
really look for them, you will discover small amazing beauty queens that can be
admired only when you really try hard, just like when looking for mushrooms or
wild asparagus, other products of nature that you only will find when you
really concentrate.
So whether
you are already mad for orchids or would like to take a chance that you will
come under their spell, spring and early summer on Lesvos offer you the
opportunity to see them. They can be found on the island from January until the
end of June. In early summer they will mostly be found in the mountains. For
more information about orchids on Lesvos see the orchidblog on the website janvanlent.com
(with
thanks to Mary Staples)
© Smitaki
2013
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